Parks Dept. working with community in rebuilding Ben Soto skate park

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation is committed to providing clean, accessible, fun and safe parks.

As such, in October 2010, we made the difficult, but responsible decision to close Ben Soto Skate Park in order to protect its users from the damaged ramps.

Safety has always been our number one guiding principle with all our park properties, and will continue to be. Ben Soto Skate Park was unsafe for use and park users have alerted Parks to a variety of safety concerns.

On Monday, April 18, 2011, Parks removed damaged ramps, and we are now in the process of installing recycled “streetscape” design elements, which include steel-edged picnic tables, granite steps, pipe rail, and cement planters.

We expect the work to be completed over the next few weeks by Parks staff.

We thank those in the community who have chosen to engage the Parks Department on how they can constructively work with us to create an improved, safer Ben Soto Skate Park.

The South Beach Civic Association, the elected officials, in particular Council Member James Oddo and Assembly Member Nicole Malliotakis, and community boards, have all been instrumental in providing outreach and advocacy.

Various organizations specializing in skateboard activities have also played an important role in the evaluation of Ben Soto Skate Park.

At a recently convened meeting facilitated by Council Member Oddo, Parks met with a group of skate-park users to listen to their concerns and discuss next steps.

We look forward to working together to advocate and plan for additional elements for the newly programmed skate park or for a newly constructed skate park, in the longer term. This type of community engagement is precisely what is needed to match the skate park with the needs and desires of the community.

Parks also recognizes that there is a strong and growing BMX riding community on Staten Island, that needs more places to ride.

In response to this need, we have begun efforts to identify potential locations for developing a pump track - dirt parks where BMX riders can play on berms, humps, bumps and rollers, or some other BMX riding area.